General news

• Amal welcomes journalists' release

  12-02-2015 23:59
  
  Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney has welcomed the decision by an Egyptian judge to order the release on bail of two Al-Jazeera journalists being retried on terror charges.
  
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• Kane worth England place - Hodgson

  12-02-2015 23:30 via bbc.co.uk
  
  England manager Roy Hodgson all but confirms that prolific Tottenham striker Harry Kane will be in his next squad.
  
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• Love Is Strange, film review: Streetwise romance reveals New York's brutal side

  12-02-2015 23:30
  
  There is a famous saying, attributed to Benjamin Franklin, that guests are like fish: after three days they begin to stink. Ira Sachs' new film, Love Is Strange, underlines the truth in Franklin's observation. This is a New York-set love story in which accommodation arrangements and rental prices play a very major part. Beautifully observed and slow-burning, the film concentrates on aspects of relationships that other romantic dramas routinely ignore.
  
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• Frank Warren: With Terry Flanagan, Derry Mathews and Kevin Mitchell chasing world titles, British lightweights mean business

  12-02-2015 23:30
  While traditionally it is boxing’s heavyweights who hog the headlines here in Britain, the lightweights are coming on strong. The 9st 6lb division has rarely been healthier or busier, with a fistful of likely lads who are all contenders for world titles.
  
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• Fury at Fatcat Lord Fink: 'I avoid tax - but show me someone who doesn't' - Mirror.co.uk

  12-02-2015 23:24 via mirror.co.uk
  
  Mirror.co.uk
  Fury at Fatcat Lord Fink: 'I avoid tax - but show me someone who doesn't'
  Mirror.co.uk
  Lord Fink made a mockery of David Cameron's boasts that he is cracking down on the tax dodging rich with his claim that everyone is at it. The millionaire Tory donor sparked fury by admitting he used family trusts to slash his bills – denying vital funds for the ...
  
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• Cricket World Cup 2015: England likely to pay the price for turning up late to the party

  12-02-2015 23:17
  
  England have become familiar with performing in a different hemisphere as part of their meticulous preparations for the 11th World Cup. Unfortunately, they may be about to discover that too many of their competitors are playing on another planet.
  
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• Former Nick Clegg ally Jeremy Browne blasts 'insipid' Lib Dem leader

  12-02-2015 23:11
  
  Nick Clegg has been accused by one of his senior MPs of offering voters “insipid moderation” and retreating to the Liberal Democrats’ “comfort zone” by attacking their Conservative coalition partners.
  
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• Jeremy Browne interview: Why this fallen star of the Lib Dems won’t be standing for re-election

  12-02-2015 23:11
  
  Jeremy Browne admits he would not be standing down as an MP in May if Nick Clegg had not sacked him as a Home Office minister in 2013.
  
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• Lib Dems remain a vital option for the British electorate, despite the body-blows

  12-02-2015 23:11
  
  It’s been a bad 24 hours for the Liberal Democrats. First, an opinion poll from Ipsos Mori putting them on 6 per cent, their lowest showing since 1990, the year Margaret Thatcher compared the party to a dead parrot. Then today’s excoriating critique of their political strategy in The Independent from Jeremy Browne, once a high-flying Lib Dem minister.
  
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• Boris Johnson in the US: London's mayor explains how he would save British politics

  12-02-2015 23:09
  
  Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, told an audience of urban scholars and planners in Washington DC today that only a radical devolution of powers in Britain away from Whitehall to individual cities, including London, would help save British politics from the “very rocky period” it has entered into.
  
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• Nicola Sturgeon: A 'modest' increase in public spending is needed. Austerity economics has failed

  12-02-2015 23:04
  
  Greece’s Syriza party won power through a defiant refusal to accept more austerity. Nicola Sturgeon preaches a less radical message. Austerity economics has failed, she says – but her answer is for what she calls a “modest” increase in public spending, an extra 0.5 per cent a year, equivalent to £180bn by 2020, to mitigate “the most pernicious welfare cuts” and invest in infrastructure such as the NHS and high-speed rail.
  
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• Nicola Sturgeon: 'I want to help women'

  12-02-2015 23:01
  
  Nicola Sturgeon has been in the job only three months but already she is eyeing her legacy. “Being the first woman First Minister is a big responsibility and I feel the weight of that acutely. I’m determined to use that position to help further the ability of other women to get on in their chosen field.”
  
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• Nicola Sturgeon: Scotland's First Minister seizes chance to play the kingmaker at general election

  12-02-2015 23:01
  
  The SNP should be less confrontational and  co-operate with political rivals – and the English, Scotland’s First Minister has said. Nicola Sturgeon wants to build a “progressive alliance” capable of propelling Ed Miliband into 10 Downing Street after May’s UK general election, she told i in an exclusive interview.
  
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• Restaurateur Iqbal Wahhab is bringing authentic New Orleans cuisine to London

  12-02-2015 23:00
  
  The Royal Sonesta Hotel in the heart of New Orleans's French quarter lands you in the essence of what you think of when imagining New Orleans. On the brilliantly named Bourbon Street, peopled by every kind of social misfit imaginable, out of each and every one of the dozens of bars comes loud and lively music, with trumpeters and trombonists blasting out just the kind of melodic jazz invented here.
  
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• Detroit hit with $178 million legal bill two months after emerging from bankruptcy

  12-02-2015 22:55
  
  Just two months after Detroit emerged from the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history, the city has been hit with a massive legal bill.
  
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• Castle Toward buyout plan collapses

  12-02-2015 22:55 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Plans for a community buyout of a 19th century country house have collapsed after a disagreement over its price.
  
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• Megan Huntsman: Utah woman faces life in jail after admitting killing six of her babies

  12-02-2015 22:47
  
  A woman in Utah has pleaded guilty to killing six of her newborns and storing their bodies in the garage, bringing her case closer to resolution.
  
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• Steve Strange dead: New Romantic pioneer dies aged 55

  12-02-2015 22:26
  
  New Romantic pioneer and Visage frontman Steve Strange has died of a heart attack in Egypt, his record label has confirmed. He was 55.
  
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• Miliband accuses Fink of U-turn

  12-02-2015 22:24 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Ed Miliband accuses Lord Fink of an "extraordinary U-turn" after the Tory donor appeared to drop his threat of legal action in row over tax avoidance.
  
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• A 'Grexit' is ever likelier - but it would not benefit Athens

  12-02-2015 22:14
  
  The clock on Greece’s membership of the eurozone appears to be fast running down. The country’s first showdown with its eurozone creditors on Wednesday did not go well. The Greek Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis, called the meeting “constructive”. But the plain fact is there was so little common ground between the two sides they could not even agree on the subject of future discussions.
  
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• New Romantic pioneer Strange dies

  12-02-2015 22:11
  
  New Romantic pioneer Steve Strange has died of a heart attack in Egypt at the age of 55, his record label said.
  
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• Mayor urges devolution of powers

  12-02-2015 22:09
  
  Boris Johnson has called on the Chancellor to hand massive financial powers to cities to help "detoxify" British politics.
  
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• Dornan wife to skip Fifty Shades

  12-02-2015 22:09
  
  Jamie Dornan's fans turned out in droves to his premiere to catch a glimpse of him in the Fifty Shades Of Grey film - but according to the actor, his wife will not be watching it.
  
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• Harman denies 'too pretty' claim

  12-02-2015 22:08 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman denies claims she told Labour councillor Karen Danczuk she was "too pretty" for politics.
  
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• Dresden bombing 70 years on: A survivor recalls the horror he witnessed in the German city

  12-02-2015 22:00
  
  On 13 February 1945, Victor Gregg was a 25-year-old British rifleman being held by the Germans in the beautiful city of Dresden. Having been captured in the Battle of Arnhem, he had twice tried to escape his POW camp, for which his punishment was to work in a soap factory, and this required him to walk 10 miles a day through thick snow (he was given a pair of wooden clogs). Unrepentant, he burnt down the soap factory, was sentenced to death and sent to Dresden for execution. There, he was held
  
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• Chapel Hill shooting: Mourners pay tribute to victims at candlelit vigil

  12-02-2015 21:47
  
  Thousands of mourners gathered at a vigil at the University of North Carolina campus today, to honour three young Muslims who were shot dead at home on Tuesday evening.
  
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• VIDEO: Fifty Shades cast at London premiere

  12-02-2015 21:42 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, who play the protagonists in the film Fifty Shades of Grey, defended the movie after it received some critical reviews.
  
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• Bobbi Kristina Brown was in a car accident days before she was found unresponsive

  12-02-2015 21:39
  
  Bobbi Kristina Brown, daughter of pop star Whitney Houston, was involved in a car accident just days before she was found unresponsive, face down in her bathtub, according to the Associated Press.
  
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• 'Send aliens the rules of cricket'

  12-02-2015 21:37
  
  One way to convince advanced aliens that we are an intelligent species might be to teach them the rules of cricket, according to a scientist leading plans to seek out ET.
  
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• TV cartoon Peppa Pig - now worth £1bn a year - is making the leap to the big screen

  12-02-2015 21:30
  
  We live, apparently, in a golden age of television. The Wire, Game of Thrones, Homeland… each has its advocates and social-pariah status is instantly bestowed on anyone who can't join in the conversation. Was Breaking Bad better than The Sopranos and, therefore, The Best Television Programme of All Time? I wouldn't have a clue. Because, for most of the viewing time available to me in the past few years, I have been watching a two-dimensional cartoon about an anthropomorphic female pig called
  
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• Donald Macintyre's Sketch: The only way is Ukip as fresh-faced Nigel Farage plays matinee idol

  12-02-2015 21:27
  
  The choice of Canvey Island’s Movie Starr cinema for Nigel Farage’s first big speech of the year was no accident. For, if not exactly a Hollywood beefcake, this was the sleek new Farage, lean and meaningful after his “dry January”.
  
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• HSBC leaks: Since when do banks know what their clients get up to?

  12-02-2015 21:22
  
  Labour’s desperation to paint the Tories as the party of sleaze, the friend of big business, in the run-up to the general election, is painfully obvious.
  
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• HSBC leaks: Lord Fink admits he took 'vanilla' steps to reduce tax bill and claims 'everyone' is involved in tax avoidance

  12-02-2015 21:20
  The Conservatives are facing embarrassment after Lord Fink, the party’s former treasurer, admitted he had taken “vanilla, bland” steps to reduce his tax bill and claimed that “everyone” was involved in tax avoidance.
  
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• Ashton Carter confirmed as Barack Obama's Defence Secretary

  12-02-2015 21:06
  
  The US Senate has voted overwhelmingly to confirm Ashton Carter as President Barack Obama’s next defence minister
  
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• Immigration Street: Protesters force controversial TV show to be cut from six to one episode

  12-02-2015 21:04
  
  Channel 4’s plans for a controversial series about immigration have been scaled back after programme-makers were confronted on the street during filming.
  
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• Apple enables two-step authentication for iMessages and FaceTime

  12-02-2015 21:00
  
  Additional login step brings extra layer of protection against hackers for Apple’s messaging and video chat, but more can be can be done say expertsApple is finally enabling two-step authentication to help protect users of its iMessages and FaceTime on iPhone, iPad and Mac computers.
  Related: How Google, Facebook and Hotmail aim to stop holiday hacking Related: Twitter introduces 'two-factor authentication' to stop password hacking Related: What to do if your email gets hacked - and how t
  
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• Holland-Dozier-Holland to be honoured with 2,543rd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

  12-02-2015 21:00
  
  As far as songwriting teams go, they might not be as instantly recognisable as Lennon and McCartney or Rodgers and Hammerstein, but Holland-Dozier-Holland are responsible for some of the biggest hits of the Sixties.
  
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• Ukraine: workers take cover as rockets hit soup kitchen - video

  12-02-2015 20:58
  
  Rockets slam into a soup kitchen in eastern Ukraine, forcing terrified workers to duck for cover. The building in Pervomaisk is hit by two separate rocket attacks within hours of each other. People scramble under tables and hide in a basement. The conflict between pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian government has left more than 5,000 people dead Continue reading...
  
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• English National Opera told to put its house in order

  12-02-2015 20:58
  
  Arts Council puts opera company under ‘special’ plan, demanding it improves business model or faces funding cutOn stage English National Opera has been getting five star reviews for a dazzling production of Wagner’s epic comedy The Mastersingers of Nuremberg. Off stage the company has lurched from crisis to crisis and is now effectively fighting for its life.After years of financial problems, Arts Council England on Thursday gave the troubled opera company what amounts to the final chance
  
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• Tough new food GCSE to test pupils on poached eggs, palmiers and provenance

  12-02-2015 20:57
  
  Rigorous exam welcomed by chefs will test pupils on culinary techniques as well as knowledge of nutrition, food traditions and kitchen safetyTeenagers studying for a new GCSE in food preparation will have to know how to portion a chicken, fillet a fish and julienne vegetables, as well as make a variety of sauces from hollandaise and mayonnaise to veloute, bechamel and plain old gravy.The rigorous new examination for 16-year-olds will require them to be able to tenderise, marinate, blanch, poach,
  
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• Marriage equality didn't end homophobia. LGBT people face discrimination every day

  12-02-2015 20:53
  
  Pointing to same-sex marriage victories as evidence of great progress on LGBT rights is seductive but ultimately untrueAs state after state makes same-sex marriage legal, it’s easy to be placated by the notion that we’re nearing true equality. For heterosexual cisgender people, marriage equality has become a self-congratulatory rallying point, a string of victories we point at to prove that things can, in fact, get better. We love the wedding pictures and the joy of excited couples together
  
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• Ashton Carter confirmed by Senate as US defense secretary

  12-02-2015 20:53
  
  Carter will succeed Chuck Hagel as Pentagon chief and will be charged with managing US operations in the Middle East and around the worldAshton Carter was confirmed as secretary of defense on Thursday after the Senate delivered more than 90 votes to approve him, putting the Pentagon veteran in charge of the US military at a time of violent crises in eastern Europe and the Middle East.Carter, a former deputy secretary of defense who is well-liked by many in congressional circles, was perfunctoril
  
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• Royal family 'are like aliens', says Helen Mirren

  12-02-2015 20:53
  
  Actor, reprising role as Queen Elizabeth II in new stage play, says monarchy live in world completely unlike anyone else’s
  Dame Helen Mirren has described the Royal family as being like “aliens” who live in a world “so beyond our understanding”. The award-winning British actress is reprising her role as the Queen for a Broadway run of The Audience, a play that had a successful run in the West End in 2013. Mirren won a best actress Oscar in 2007 for her portrayal of Elizabeth II in film
  
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• Montana man sentenced to 70 years in controversial killing of exchange student

  12-02-2015 20:51
  
  A Montana man was sentenced to 70 years in prison on Thursday for killing an unarmed German exchange student who was in the man’s garage, in a case that tested the boundaries of the state’s self-defence law, Reuters reported.
  
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• Louis van Gaal ‘shocked’ by Manchester United’s display against Burnley

  12-02-2015 20:51
  
  • Chris Smalling: ‘I think the manager was shocked at half-time’
  • Defender added manager had deemed first-half display ‘unacceptable’
  • Match report: Smalling’s headed double sets up win over BurnleyLouis van Gaal, the Manchester United manager, was “shocked” by his side’s poor first-half performance against Burnley according to Chris Smalling, who labelled the display their worst of the season.Smalling scored two and Robin van Persie converted an 82nd-minute penalty o
  
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• Konrad Wimmel Is in Town – in pictures

  12-02-2015 20:48
  
  Konrad Wimmel Is in Town is a book created by photographer Jan von Holleben, who took more than 5,000 photos to construct the final images. Readers must locate Konrad and his friends in the pictures, which show them chasing a thief who has stolen Konrad’s grandmother’s handbag Continue reading...
  
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• The Guardian view on the chances the new Ukraine ceasefire will last

  12-02-2015 20:42
  
  The Minsk agreement in itself will not bring peace, unless we learn how to manage the enigmatic Vladimir PutinThe Ukraine ceasefire agreement reached after laborious negotiations in Minsk this week may or may not last. Unfortunately, we can be sure of one thing: it will not in itself lead to a real peace. The objectives of Russia, Ukraine, the separatists, the Europeans and the Americans are so divergent they are impossible to reconcile. The reduction in the level of violence if a ceasefire even
  
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• Ukraine crisis: Leaders hammer out new truce after all-night talks

  12-02-2015 20:41
  
  An agreement intended to end the conflict in Ukraine and halt the slide towards a new Cold War between Russia and the West was signed today after prolonged international efforts.
  
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• The Guardian view on the new electoral landscape: the stakes could hardly be higher

  12-02-2015 20:41
  
  Nicola Sturgeon offers austerity lite, the DUP warns of the threat the SNP poses to the union, and Ukip wants a swift EU referendumSlowly the contours of a political landscape that is made up not of three significant parties but six is beginning to emerge. This week, the smaller parties that will now be big players if the country wakes up on 8 May to a hung parliament have sketched out their negotiating positions. They are a reminder of just what is at stake over the next 12 weeks: not only the
  
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• Greece eurozone talks fail to reach consensus on renegotiation of €240bn bailout deal

  12-02-2015 20:39
  
  Temperatures in Athens dropped to freezing today, but the tents of unemployed workers who used to clean state buildings still remained camped outside the country’s Finance Ministry in a continued show of defiance. They were some of the thousands who lost their jobs as part of layoffs demanded by Greece’s international creditors to rein-in the country’s finances.
  
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